1. Technical Field
The subject invention relates to mold parts. More specifically, the subject invention relates to the fabrication of mold parts including fabric coverings.
2. Description of Related Art
Molding interior trim parts of automobiles is increasingly becoming a task out sourced by the automotive companies. Parts which are capable of being installed quickly into substantially built automobiles help the efficiency requirements of the automotive companies as long as the quality of the completed automobile can be maintained. One such problematic area is the disjoint or discontinuous look of trim parts where by abut other trim parts.
A simple, yet undesirable solution to this problem requires fabric wrap-around for at least one of the adjacent trim parts. The fabric wrapped around the trim part insures no plastic or polyurethane mold part exposure. The solution creates problems while solving the unsightly part exposure problem. Mainly, the additional fabric needed to wrap around the edges of the trim part costs additional money and reduces the value of the tolerance requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,147, issued to Moore on Mar. 29, 1988, discloses a method of precisely attaching a fabric end to the end of a trim part. The fabric is dielectrically bonded to the rigid support member of the trim part. A layer of foam is secure between the fabric cover and the rigid support member allowing the fabric cover the ability to maintain the exact edge with the rigid support member because the foam can expand or contract according to the expansions or contractions of the fabric cover. The dielectric bonding system is costly to maintain and operate. Additionally, this system will not work with the absence of an intermediate foam layer because the fabric may be stretched to the point where it will break the bond created dielectrically.